Leading the Future of Play: A Conversation with Grand Forks Children’s Museum Exec Director Katie Mayer

The Grand Forks Children’s Museum has broken ground, and soon enough it will be filled with kids and adults of all ages! On the heels of the exciting groundbreaking, and with the anticipation opening date of Fall 2027 I had a fun sit down spotlight interview with Executive Director Katie Mayer to discuss how the Children’s Museum began, what exhibits to expect, and how this museum was thoughtfully designed for to pay special homage to the Grand Forks Community!

The idea of a children’s museum in Grand Forks started back in 1980 with an ambitious group that wanted a local Children’s Museum. They tried different events in church basements, but the fundraising didn’t take off. This project revamped interest during COVID in 2020 with a group of community members brainstorming different ideas. From there the Grand Forks Children’s Museum non-profit began in June 2021, and fundraising started in 2022, and broke ground in May of 2026. Generally, a project of this size would take 10 years from conception to groundbreaking, but the Grand Forks Children’s Museum was an ambitious group, and that timeline was shattered. Katie Mayer joined the Museum full time in July 2024. The museum staff is small but mighty and obviously are high achievers.

The 34,000 square foot Museum is split into two floors – Land and Sky. Land will have experiences like Friendly Forks, Harvest Hustle, River Run, and the Big Backyard. Museum goers will be able to see the cycle of food from start to finish with the Seed to Table hands on experience. It begins with planting, to harvest, to the transportation to store via rail, to the end result which is at the table. The River Run Water Table is very much a staple to the iconic Red River which includes teaching children the effects of damming and flooding. It also shows the fun side of the river which includes ice fishing, boat launching, and even a squirt gun gallery where kids can shoot at Meadowlarks. In addition to the land area includes a toddler area called The Big Backyard which has several pieces of climbing equipment, and sensory-rich development toys! Beginning on the first floor is a climber which goes between first and second floor which has 13 interactive components in the climbing component. Kids will spend countless hours on this climber!

The upstairs of the Museum pays ode to Grand Forks’ deep-rooted Aerospace tradition which features the Sky galleries. The Sky galleries features include a Space Time Gallery, Wonder Gallery, Glow Gallery, and Sky Lab Gallery. The upstairs even includes a Paper Airplane Launch experience, and a wind tunnel that could even generate tornado speeds! Other exhibits on the second floor include the travel of sound, create a cloud, and astronomy.

The Grand Forks Children’s Museum would not be complete without Smiley the Water Tower making not one but TWO special appearances throughout the Museum! Other local touches throughout will be interactive art pieces designed by local artists.

Play is learning, play is hands on, and play to experimenting! STEAM Based Education is the driving force for programming in the Museum. The Museum will have fresh and new programming. Summer programming will include outside activity such as planting, crops, and farming. Winter activities may include fun things like snow fort building.

Programming will be available for the schools for fieldtrips. Schools already take part in the Full STEAM Ahead event that happens at the Curling Club each October. This will be the last year at the Curling Club as next year the Museum will be open! If Corporations are looking to help this is a great opportunity for donation dollars to help with transportation, or admission costs for students.

Yes, the museum is ADA compliant, and we have a strong partnership with Development Homes who have assisted with accessible strategies. There are several areas of the museum that are wheelchair accessible including at the water table, climbing area, and even the wind tunnel that allow for wheelchair access! Barriers are not always physical, which is why the Museum has incorporated sensory calming spaces on both floors, that can accommodate nursing parents, changing needs, and more.

Grand Forks Children’s Museum has many monthly events, and are always looking for volunteers. In October the Full STEM Ahead event will take place at the Grand Forks Curling Club. This event takes many volunteers to make it successful for the schools to attend, and also for the public to attend. The volunteer link is linked here for community members to sign up! Fundraising events that are upcoming include the 3^rd Annual Star Seekers Charity Dinner Event on Thursday, September 10^th. Tickets are on sale now!

For Museum supporters who are 21+ charitable gaming is available at The Spud Jr, Sledsters, Las Delicias De La Abuela, Kaspers, and Rhombas Guys!

At the time of this article the Grand Forks Children’s Museum is less than $900,000 to the campaign goal of 35 million dollars! To donate or to follow along with the construction I have attached the link here. In addition if you are interested in learning more about the fun components to see how the Museum got to where it is today the blog is a great place to start, and I have linked it here. The blog is worth the read!